A dangerous new twist on cyberbullying
Our Correspondent
As if the idea of teen cyberbullying isnt harrowing enough, a new study warns of a strange twist in which kids anonymously post hurtful messages -- to themselves.
The worry is that this digital self-harm -- like traditional self-harm -- may be a harbinger for suicide down the road, the study authors said. In the first survey of its kind, the nationally representative group of nearly 5,600 U.S. high school students was asked about self-cyberbullying. The kids were all between the ages of 12 and 17. And about 6 percent said they had engaged in the practice. The risk for doing so was highest among those who had previously been victims of cyberbullying or bullying themselves.
We define digital self-harm as the anonymous online posting, sending, or otherwise sharing of hurtful content about oneself, said study lead author Sameer Hinduja. He co-directs Florida Atlantic Universitys Cyberbullying Research Center, in Boca Raton.
It is not specific to any particular online environment, Hinduja said. It can occur through SMS [texting], email, social media, gaming consoles, web forums, virtual environments, and any other online platform yet to be conceived.
A little more than 7 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls were found to engage in digital self-harm, he added. While these percentages arent large, they do indicate a problem when extrapolated out to the millions of teens in the U.S., Hinduja said
The pool of high school participants in the study was evenly divided between boys and girls. Nearly 350 teens said they had posted something mean about themselves online.
Boys were significantly more likely to have done so than girls. Race and age didnt seem to affect risk.
Kids who identified as gay were about three times more likely to say they had cyberbullied themselves or posted something unkind about themselves, the researchers found.
About half the digital self-harmers had done it just once. Over a third had done it multiple times, and 13 percent had done it many times, the study found. Almost half offered explanations as to why they did it. The explanations included self-hate; wanting attention; wanting to appear victimized to justify cyberbullying others; feeling depressed or suicidal; trying to be funny or make fun of themselves; and boredom.
Forty percent said theyd been bullied at school at some point. Almost 17 percent were prior victims of cyberbullying. Both of these factors increased the risk for practicing digital self-harm. Previous victims of cyberbullying had 12 times the risk of causing digital self-harm, according to the study.
Similarly, those who had used illicit drugs, stolen something, seriously hurt someone physically, developed symptoms of depression, or had engaged in traditional (offline) self-harm (cutting, scratching, biting or hitting oneself), were all significantly more likely to self-cyberbully. Parents and educators need to make sure we are discussing this phenomenon among adolescents, he added, so that they can understand its reality and offer support if someone in their peer group opens up to them.
Id encourage those adults to also encourage the kids and teens in their lives to always know that they are there to serve as a listening ear without judgment or criticism, Hinduja said, and to also be prepared to offer alternative options for addressing their emotional turmoil.
HealthDay
